Fusion cuisine is defined as a combination of elements of various culinary traditions while not fitting specifically into any. But I have always been wary of the term. Past experiences have shown me unfortunate pairings of elements from varying cuisines with little thought to how the complete dish works. One of my pet peeves is a garnish or an element on the plated dish that has little bearing on or correlation to the rest of it. So it was with a little reluctance that I agreed to have dinner at Pink Poppadom, the Indian restaurant at Bangalore’s Ista Hotel.
The décor is, well pink. Pink gauze curtains, pink flowers, pinkish light, even the poppadoms were pink. As tacky as all this sounds, it works surprisingly well. It manages to look classy and understated, without crossing over into teenage-girl bedroom décor territory.
The cuisine is labeled as Contemporary Indian and the food lives up to this admirably with each astonishing mouthful. I was expecting the usual tomato gravies with maybe cheese naans or something similarly unexciting, but the food made me sit up and savour each dish with growing respect for Chef Suprabhat. The complimentary amuse bouche was a precursor of things to come. A small rice ball in the middle of two daals (one a regular creamy daal and the other of a deep wine colour. Beet-root, I’m guessing). Both separate and unblemished but served in the same bowl in a yin and yang pattern.
For starters, we had the Trio of Chicken Tikka, which is basically chicken tikka three ways with a caramelized onion chutney. It really tasted like we got to try three different starters on one plate, which was delicious, but with the familiar chicken tikka taste running through it all. We also tried the Fig And Walnut Seekh and the crunchiness of the fig seeds worked beautifully with the richness of the walnut.
But my food epiphany happened when the main course arrived. The Guchchi Farci was simply sublime. Creamy morels paired with smoky artichokes made the non-vegetarian in me want to almost convert.
They also have innovative cocktails like Imli Margherita, White Saffron etc. And breads like Rosemary Naan, Goat Cheese Kulchas and more. There are exciting dishes like the Foie Gras Gilouti Kababs, Ricotta Kababs, Nilgiri Lamb Chops and more. But if you go to taste just one thing on the menu, make it the Guchchi Farci.
We had to forgo desserts because we were stuffed by then which was a good thing in retrospect because just then we were served complimentary Kala Khatta Golas! I may be wrong, but this is possibly the only fine dining Indian restaurant in Bangalore serving ice golas. With our bill, came paan shots (complimentary again). Now I never eat paan but these were something else. Delicately perfumed with crystallized rose petals, they were a perfect ending to a great meal.
Innovative, inventive, intuitive Indian food has to start in India. We cannot wait for Western chefs to set precedents. Of course there are Michelin star chefs in the UK and elsewhere, but their core strength is authentic Indian food that they are trying to recreate for a Western palate. Indian chefs need to do something different. Recreate familiar flavours for the new discerning Indian gourmet, using all the wonderful ingredients and produce freshly available in the market. Pink Poppadom seems to be a step in the right direction. Perhaps they should call it Global Indian Cuisine rather than refer to it with the much-abused term, ‘Fusion Food.’ But if this is ‘Fusion Food,’ all I can say is, bring it on!
Ista Hotel, 1/1, Swami Vivekananda Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore
Kavya Thimmaiah-Prasanna is an Associate Architect with Thimmaiah & Prabhakar and a mom. And when she is not building residential, commercial and recreational projects or doing up the interiors of residences, she is busy travelling to exotic places, reading, sampling food and life and enjoying it all in equal measure.